Section 2 Kashmir - Pashmina

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particular preferences:

**Chapter 5**

**Abstract**

Cashmere

*Seyed Abbas Rafat*

diameter, combing, fine fibers

**1. Introduction**

New Look on an Ancient Fiber of

The word cashmere in particular refers to the fine fibers of goats that are grown in high and cold regions of the world. There is not a specific cashmere-producing goat in the world, that is, there are many breeds or ecotypes that produce cashmere fibers. Cashmere-producing goats are grown majorly in areas that are very limited in alternative sources of income, such as agriculture or industry. Therefore, raising goats will encourage the villagers to live in the same rural and nomadic areas and do not migrate to cities. Therefore, the socio-ecological aspects of cashmere goat farming are important and must be notified by animal scientists. Structure of hair and cashmere fibers, physiology, and genetic and nongenetic factors that influence cashmere goats has been mentioned. Challenges and problems facing the cashmere industry reviewed briefly in this chapter: In general, cashmere goat production has some very interesting aspects from interaction of animal science and textile industry's viewpoint. Cashmere goats are combined with many other human activities in low-density farming. In the world today, it is necessary to pay more attention to raising goats in less developed areas. We declared the importance of cashmere goats in a whole system of animal production, especially in extensive agriculture systems.

**Keywords:** cashmere, goats, livelihood, lux textile, agrotourism, fleece, hair,

The word cashmere in particular refers to the fine fibers of goats that are grown in high and cold regions of the world. Cashmere industry has been noticed again in textile industry in recent years. Fashion designers are passionate about animal fibers including cashmere. So there are high demands for luxury animal fibers. But demand for cashmere sometimes gets sinusoidal. Demand has increased significantly since 2011. If cashmere production's comparative advantage has been considered by producing countries, a good economic result will have been obtained. There is not a specific cashmere-producing goat in the world, that is, there are many breeds or ecotypes that produce cashmere fibers, so in this chapter our aim from "cashmere goat" is the "cashmere-producing goats." The term of "cashmere goat" refers to goats whose main production is cashmere fibers. Biologically, there are many goats that produce cashmere fibers from their secondary follicles in the skin, but their cashmere quantities are not sufficient as we could nomenclature them as "cashmere goats". There are some advantages of natural fibers in comparison with synthetic fibers. Some advantages of natural fibers including animal fibers have the following
